Alice Nelson

It's the gardener's job to choose those that will thrive in his or her climate, rather than trying to force the plants to grow where they're not well suited.

I am all for playing rough with things [i.e., plants] that play rough with us, and for making them behave as our servants, not our masters.

I had to remember that I was only the referee, the human being who weeded and pinched back and watched everything grow. If I was patient and paid close attention, perennials would let me know where they wanted to be.

Sleet, incidentally, is the worst five-letter four-letter word I know.

Snowdrops provide the intermezzo between winter and spring.

Compared to gardeners, I think it is generally agreed that others understand very little about anything of consequence.

Sleet, incidentally, is the worst five-letter four-letter word I know.

It isn’t that I don’t like sweet disorder, but it has to be judiciously arranged.

The garden was all in blue and gold, blue was the color of his wife's eyes and gold the color of her hair.

I am all for playing rough with things [i.e., plants] that play rough with us, and for making them behave as our servants, not our masters.

There is no gardening without humility. Nature is constantly sending even its oldest scholars to the bottom of the class for some egregious blunder.

A garden is a lovely thing
But gardens are not made
By saying "Oh how beautiful"
And sitting in the shade!

Every spring is the only spring, a perpetual astonishment. It bursts upon a man every year . . . as though it had never happened before, but had just been shown by God how to do it, and tried, and found the impossible possible.